Tonight was O2 night at Oxygen. Once a month, all of the small groups get together and do their own thing apart from the regular service. "Xcel" (the best group in the world...fyi "mine") had a student led night that went amazing. Front Line (our student leaders) talked about who they see when they look in the mirror and how they should see past the immediate insecurities to catch a glimpse of who God made them to be. I loved that after they told their peers what insecurities that they personally face when they look in the mirror, that it didn't end there. Front line went on to tell them how they moved passed their struggles and dealt with it. A great night then ended with some powerful prayer. I'm convinced that our kids have what it takes to turn the mirror around and love each other like they were created to do.

(my boy Angel in the pic above)

If I Was a Dead Pharaoh...

Last night's events included: eternal probation, an intense game of airsoft, and The Bucket List at the dollar movies (master's budget). Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson are great together. Friends have told me that they weren't a fan of the movie and the ratings didn't blow me away, but I'm gonna go ahead and disagree. I was impressed with not only the acting, but the story line and characters were well developed, I laughed...a lot, and it probably had one of the best endings I'd seen in a while. The biblical content (less the cussing) was evident and I learned something new about Egyptians that I probably won't forget anytime soon.

In the movie, Morgan (a mechanic that knows all the answers in Jeopardy) tells Jack (a self-made billionaire) that when Egyptians die, they are asked two questions before they are able to enter the afterlife. their answers would determine where they would live forever....and ever...and ever...and ever(David Crowder will pay.) The first was, "did you find joy in your life?" and the second was like it..."did you bring joy to others?" Brain jerker, yeah? Kinda sounds like something J might say. It also makes me glad I'm not a dead Pharaoh back in the day, since I'm still working on em' both. Think you would have passed?

I give the movie a thumbs up...plus like three stars. A little slow, but good solid film that makes you think about life and death and dying and God and all that other good stuff. My really smart brother told me that the cinematography was good as well (for those of you insanely harsh film critics out there). Go see it.

Back 2 Back is Back!

Mexico team is officially home. Judy Gregory lead a team on a back 2 back mission trip to Monterey Mexico. Hit up Judy's blog for the day by day. (click the pic)

The Art of Tuesdays

---7:00-9:00 p.m.---
Seven and a half months into Masters, my Tuesday night routine has been established. The first event is 722. My car is small, but Scottie n' I usually try to bring at least one classmate with us to share the love. This week it was RC.

Kristian led the worship and Jarrett gave the message. The series was titled "all of the above" and Jarrett talked about how we tend to classify everything as either spiritual or secular. Generally, we would say that spiritual things are good and secular things are bad. Even though there are many aspects of the secular world that are influenced by sin, there is still no reason that we can't find the good in it and merge the two worlds. What Jarrett suggested is that we tear down the walls and instead of trying to cram our secular world into our spiritual world and making it work, we should instead take our spiritual world and include it in our secular one.

All in all, a great night. Worship was out of the park and the message was right on. It really made me think and challenged some mind sets that I've been raised in. My Tuesday nights would not be the same without a little 722.

---9:30-11:00p.m.---

After chillin' at Buckhead, the next stop is Java Monkey. Heather Luttrell is the definition of a fiery red head and she plays every Tuesday. She's also the only artist that is actually paid to play. I'm ok with that, because she's just amazing. Heather sings from her soul with her bluesy pipes. She new me right away when I walked in the door and we both laughed, because we new WHY she remembered me. The first time I went to hear her play, I opened my mouth to say "hi", but forgot to quit talking with my Aussie accent. Rather than correct myself, I kept up the act and told her I was from Sydney. After bit, I left to get some coffee and when I came back I dropped the accent and said, "Heather, I can't lie. I'm not from Australia." She looked me in the eye with her jaw dropped and said..."you (bad word)". We laughed and I apologized. This week I said I was sorry again, but I'm glad I did it. She still remembers me.

She's an amazing musician that's been all over. Usually accompanied by Walter, (violin, mandolin, harmonica player extraordinaire) Heather has toured for years and shared the stage with names like Elton John. Being able to hear her play every week is nothing shy of a perfect ending to a Tuesday night.

as of 4.13...click the pic

Five Star Yo.

Over spring break (a while ago I know) I had a chance to get some Starbucks with Seth Maust. Seth is one of those leaders that is just easy to follow. You can see the love shine through his life and into the kids he surrounds himself with. He told me about how amazing the ministry is doing and the future plans blow my mind. There are a lot of things that I miss back home and Five Star is pretty high on the list. I'm not gonna lie...leaving the meeting, I felt inspired.

Later that week, I got to chill with some of my old kids at Discovery Middle School. We had a blast and they even let me play dodgeball with em' (I was previously banned from the sport due to a glasses incident).

I'm not sure exactly what my summer is going to look like, but I'm convinced that Five Star will be a priority.

For more info about the ministry and getting involved, click the pic.

Put Em' on the Ipod

Grace Potter and the Nocturnals have officially invaded my Ipod. I'm convinced that the 70's are NOT over and the hippies had it right when they defined rock n' roll...not so much everything else, but at least rock n' roll. Nickelback is not a sufficient substitute for what Led Zeppelin started and I'm happy to announce that The Rolling Stones will never quit touring. That said...Grace Potter is one of the most refreshing sounds I've heard in a while. Think Brandi Carlile or a female Bob Dylan. They're young, but they're also playing shows at Bonnaroo and opening up for names like Gov't Mule. I highly recommend the ipod add...or just go buy tickets, they tour like mad, so you won't have to drive far. Let me know what you think.

(to any Nickelback fans that I may have offended in this post...I apologize...but please move on)